Ice tray



Patented Apr. 12, 1949 UNITED STATE ICE TRAY Maximilian Siebigteroth,Detroit, Mich., assignor to Charles B. Kemp, Grosse Pointe, Mich.

Application August 21, 1946, Serial No. 691,964 v This invention relatesto an improved ice tray such as are used in domestic and commercialrefrigerators for freezing ice cubes. In reissure Patent No. 20,693dated April 12, 1938, there is disclosed an ice tray and gridcombination wherein the grid is formed of a plurality of transverse wallsections flexibly connected together by hinging means to form acontinuous ribbonlike construction extending longitudinally of the tray.Such a construction greatly facilitates the removal of ice from the trayin that the adjacent wall sections are movable about a fulcrum andrelative to the walls of the tray.

It is an object of the present invention to improve the gridconstruction there disclosed so as to further facilitate removal of icecubes and, in addition, to make it easier to restore the grid toposition in the tray after the ice cubes have been removed. Withprevious constructions, the many hinged joints in the ribbon-like gridprovide an extremely flexible grid which may readily swing far out fromits normal contour and make it difficult to position properly in theempty ice tray without manipulation of the separate wall sections tosecure their proper placement in the tray.

Furthermore, such a grid is not capable of supporting itself in placewhen held in the hand by one end thereof, the many hinged joint-spermitting the grid to flex downwardly and hang loosely from the endsupported in the hand. The action in this respect is much like that ofan accordion in that there is a total lack of rigidity to the structureexcept when it is properly supported in the tray. These difiiculties areovercome in the present tray by arranging a central longitudinalpartition in the grid work having means thereon cooperating with thetransverse partitions to limit their displacement under hinging action.Such a member, furthermore provides a more convenient size of ice cubeand facilitates the operation of removing the ice cubes from the tray.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an ice tray and grid embodying apreferred form of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross section of line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a view corresponding to Figure 2 showing the position of theparts during removal of the ice cubes.

Referring now to Figure 1, there is shown a rectangular ice tray lhaving the usual bottom, sides and walls for containing a quantity ofwater or other material to be frozen. Removably positioned within thetray I0 is a grid generally designated l2. Grid [2 is made up of aplurality 8 Claims. (01. Gav-108.5)

of alternately inclined transversely extending wall sections l4, l6, l8and 20. The sections l4 and 20 may have a protruding horizontal tongue22 providing a ready means by which the grid may be grasped in the hand.Each of the adjacent wall sections is pivoted to an adjacent sectionalong their bottom edges by any suitable pivotal joint such as the pianohinge illustrated at 24. The top edges of the wall sections areintegrally joined by a V bend indicated at 26. The grid thus providespartition means which form alternately facing ice cube spaces which arein the shape of triangular prisms.

Each of the wall sections l4, I6 and I8 is provided with a slit 30 whichextends from the bottom almost to the top as shown more clearly inFigure 1. Positioned in the slits 30 is a longitudinal partition 32which preferably is one integral piece ,of sheet metal. The partition 32is provided with elongated perforations 34, 36 and 38 through which thepins of the hinges 24 are inserted during assembly of the gridstructure. The transverse partitions are thus freely slidable to alimited degree upwardly and downwardly relative to the longitudinalpartition 32.

To further facilitate the removal of ice cubes from the grid, thecontour of wall sections l4, l6 and I8 is deviated from a continuousstraight line at 40 near the bottom portion thereof so that the angleincluded between hinged wall sections is greater at the pivotalconnection 24 than at a short distance above said point. These wallsections may be formed from material of uniform thickness throughout andbent at 40 to provide the enlarged angle or they may be formed fromrolled or extruded strips gradually thickened at both edges whichcooperate to form the enlarged angle when assembled. I

For the purpose of assisting in lifting the grid from the tray, there ispreferably provided a pivot cam 42 at each end which normally liesunderneath the projecting tongues 22 of the end walls l4 and 20. Whenraised, the upper surfaces of the cam rings-42 pry the tongues 22upwardly to raise the grid from the tray.

In operation it will be seen that when the grid [2 is positioned in thetray as illustrated and the tray filled with water, the prismaticcompartments between adjacent walls of'the grid will form substantiallytriangular shaped ice cubes. When it is desired to remove the cubes fromthe tray, the cams 42 may be operated to raise the.

tongues 22. This bends the grid element as a whole tending to close theV shaped spaces at the top side of the grid and the cubes positioned 3therein will be squeezed outwardly and upwardly to separate them fromcontact with the grid walls. The booster action of the enlarged angle atthe pivot joint becomes obvious at once. It provides an added liftingaction to the cubes and greatly diminishes the squeezingforce necessaryto separate the cubes from the wall sections. The emcacy of thissqueezing action will also depend to some extent upon the normal angleincluded between the wall sections which, of course, may be varied byproviding more or fewer i prismaticspaces in a tray of given length. The

cubes remaining inthe tray may be separated therefrom by diagonallytwisting the body of the tray.

When it is desired to replace the grid in the tray, or in fact atany-time it is being handled, it may be readily grasped by one ortheother tongues 22. When so supported in the hand, the elongated slots34, 36; and 38 together with the connection portions at the middle ofthe bends 26 serve to limit the unfolding action which the hinge wouldotherwise permit and cause the grid to'remain substantially in the sameshape as shown on the drawing. In other words, the grid naturally tendsto keep its normal shape and con-.

formation exactly the same as itwould lie in the tray. Thus the grid maybe readily placed in the tray without the necessity of individuallymanipulating any of the wall sections which may have become collapsed inprevious constructions.

1. An ice'tray partition unit comprising a plurality-of wall sectionseach extending transversely of the tray, each wall section beingpivotally connected to an adjacent wall section along its bottom edgeand rigidly joined to anotheradjacent section along its top edge, saidwall sections being slotted from their bottom edge to a point near tionsbeing slotted from their bottom edge to a point near their top edges anda longitudinal partition lying in said slots, said longitudinalpartition being provided with elongated perforations of varying lengthand pivot members extending through the perforations and connectingadjacent transverse wall sections at their bottoms whereby sometransverse partitions may be raised bodily away from the tray to causepivotal movement of'other remote transverse partitions.

3. A sharp freezing container comprising a partition forming-a pluralityof wall sections dividing the container into compartments, the ad- I 4being integral and the wall sections of each compartment being hinged toeach other, said adjacent integral wall sections being positioned at anangle to each other and a longitudinal partition member passing throughsaid wall sections. said wall sections having hinge pins extendingthrough the longitudinal partition, said partition having elongatedslots through which said hinge pins extend and by which their relativemovement is limited.

5. A sharp freezing container comprising a partitionforming wallsections dividing the container into compartments, the adjacent wallsections of adjacent compartments being integral and the wall sectionsof each compartment being hinged to each other, said adjacent integralwall sections being positioned at an angle to each other and alongitudinal partition member passing through said wall sections, saidwall sections having integral connecting portions extending across thetop of the partition and hinge pins extending through the partition.

6. A sharp freezing container comprising a partition forming a plurality.of wall sections dividing the container into compartments. the adjacentwall sections of adjacent compartments being integral and the wallsections of each compartment being hinged to each other, said adjacentintegral wall sections being positioned at an angle to each other, and alongitudinal partition member passing through said wall sections, saidwall sections having integral connecting portions extending across thetop of the partition and hinge pins extending through the partition, andmeans on the partition for limiting hinging movement of the walls.

7. An ice tray partition unit comprising a plurality of wall sectionsextending transversely of the tray, each wall section being pivotallyconnected to an adjacent wall section at its bottom edge and rigidlyjoined to another adjacent section at its top edge, said wall sectionsbeing alternately inclined to form a plurality of triangularly shapedcompartments in said tray, at

jacent wall sections of adjacent compartments I being integraland thewall sections of each compartment being hinged to each other, saidadjacent integral wall sections being positioned at an angle to eachother and a longitudinal partition member passing through said wallsections, said wall sections having hinge pins extending through thelongitudinal partition.

4. A sharp freezing container comprising a partition forming a pluralityof wall sections dividing the container into compartments, the adjacentwall sections of adjacent compartments least one wall section betweenadjacent rigid connections having two surfaces inclined substantially toeach and to the bottom wall of the tray whereby one of said surfacesacts as a booster in ejecting the ice cube from said compartments.

8. An ice tray partition unit comprising a plurality of wall sectionsextending transversely of the tray and dividing the tray into aplurality of compartments, each wall section being pivotally REFERENCESCITED The following references are of record in the file of this.patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Cole Dec. 9, 1941

